Be a Palm Pro

Graffiti ShortCuts

Graffiti writing is pretty easy, but let's face it: It's printing by hand, and you don't have as much time to make nice big block letters as you did in first grade. If you get into the habit of using Graffiti ShortCuts, however, you can cut the time it takes to write words or phrases you use all the time.

A ShortCut is a code that, when combined with the Graffiti ShortCut stroke, inserts an entire word or phrase. Think of ShortCuts as Palm macros.

The ShortCut stroke is easy to make: It's the cursive letter l. Here it is as it appears in Graffiti Help:

It doesn't matter whether you write the ShortCut stroke on the letter side or the number side of the Graffiti entry area. Your Palm has a number of built-in ShortCuts. To see them, tap Prefs in the Applications Launcher, and select ShortCuts from the drop-down box in the upper-right corner of the screen.

Using Built-In ShortCuts

Suppose you want to keep track of your winnings during your vacation in Las Vegas. You could use the Memo Pad in your Palm handheld to list what you won each day. Instead of entering the date yourself, you could use the Date Stamp ShortCut (ds) to enter it for you.

Let's assume you've created the memo that tallies your winnings. Here's how you enter today's date using the Graffiti ShortCut:

1. Open the memo you're using to track your winnings.

2. Tap the line on which you want to enter today's winnings.

3. Draw the ShortCut stroke (the cursive letter l). The ShortCut symbol will appear on the line in the memo.

4. Write the Graffiti characters d and s, with no space between them (ds stands for "date stamp"). Your handheld automatically inserts today's date on the line.

Creating Your Own ShortCuts

You can add your own ShortCuts to the list that already exists on your Palm. Suppose you have a friend with whom you exchange e-mail. Unfortunately, he has a long name that's hard to spell and an equally long e-mail address:

james_olmalyczkowicz@improbableisp.net

You can create a ShortCut that will throw that whole address into the To: field of your Palm handheld's Mail application with just a few strokes of your stylus. To create this ShortCut:

1. In the Applications Launcher, tap Prefs to open the Preferences application.

2. Tap the drop-down box in the upper-right corner of the screen and select ShortCuts.

3. Tap New.

4. On the edit line under ShortCut Name, write jim.

5. On the edit line under ShortCut Text, enter Jim's e-mail address, like this:

(Don't let the number of blank lines fool you. That e-mail address is just seven characters shy of the maximum length for ShortCut text.)

6. Tap OK. Your new ShortCut shows up in the list.

Here's how you would use the ShortCut either in Mail or in the iMessenger application of a Palm VII handheld:

1. Open Mail or the iMessenger application.

2. Tap New.

3. Draw the ShortCut stroke. It shows up in the To: field.

4. Write the "jim" ShortCut:

5. The e-mail address appears: